Nicole Van Dyke, a former Division I head coach, has been invaluable in helping guide the Cardinal to two NCAA College Cup berths, including a national championship in her first season, in 2011.
Stanford has gone a combined 46-2-2, won two Pac-12 titles, and has been unbeaten at home and in conference play with Van Dyke.
Van Dyke, who contributes in all areas of coaching and recruiting, came to Stanford after five seasons as head coach at Cal State Bakersfield. Before that, Van Dyke was the head coach at Cal State Stanislaus from 2003-05.
She became the first full-time women's soccer coach at Bakersfield, overseeing a five-year transition from NCAA Division II to Division I, and compiling a 27-55-13 record as the team played as an independent. In 2010, the Roadrunners beat one NCAA tournament team, Sacramento State, while drawing against two others, San Diego and Fresno State.
Van Dyke's Roadrunners twice won the Kegley-McCall Award for the Cal State Bakersfield team with the highest grade-point average and were runners-up in 2010. Their scholastic achievements earned Bakersfield recognition as an NSCAA's All-Academic Team Award recipient, in 2009 and '10. Van Dyke made it three in a row when Stanford received the same honor in 2011.
Van Dyke began her collegiate head coaching career at age 23 at Division II Cal State Stanislaus, leading the Warriors to a combined 35-19-7 record, and winning a California Collegiate Athletic Association North Division title in 2005. That team went 15-4-2 and Van Dyke, who also served as an admissions counselor, earned CCAA Coach of the Year honors.
Immediately after her collegiate playing career ended, Van Dyke joined the Cal State Bakersfield staff, serving as an assistant coach in 2001-02 after playing there from 1998-2000. Van Dyke set a school single-season goal-scoring record (17) in 2000 while leading the Roadrunners to the CCAA Central Division title. She remains No. 1 in career points (88), No. 2 in goals (36), and No. 5 in assists (16), and was an All-Far West Region selection in 1999-2000.
A native of Palm Desert, Calif., Van Dyke starred at Palm Desert High School and played a year at College of the Desert in the same town. She graduated from Cal State Bakersfield with a degree in liberal studies in 2002 and earned her master's in education there as well, with an emphasis on curriculum and instruction, in 2008.
Van Dyke played professionally in Sweden and was an all-league selection for the California Gold of the Women's Premier Soccer League. She currently coaches the Palo Alto Soccer Club's Under-18 'A' team and the an under-12 team with the Stanford Soccer Club.
Van Dyke has earned a Premier Diploma from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America and serves as an NSCAA Associate Staff Coach. She also holds a USSF 'A' coaching license.